Uncle Tom's Cabin

American  

noun

1. an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

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Uncle Tom's Cabin Cultural  

1. (1852) A novel, first published serially, by Harriet Beecher Stowe; it paints a grim picture of life under slavery. The title character is a pious, passive slave, who is eventually beaten to death by the overseer Simon Legree.

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Published shortly before the Civil War, Uncle Tom's Cabin won support for the antislavery cause.

Although Stowe presents Uncle Tom as a virtuous man, the expression “Uncle Tom” is often used as a term of reproach for a subservient black person who tolerates discrimination.

Example Sentences

Book bans continued with Southern slave-state efforts to remove Uncle Tom’s Cabin from shelves.

From Slate

Or as Caviezel puts it in his post-credits message: “I think we can make Sound of Freedom the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of 21st-century slavery.”

From Slate

During the credits, Caviezel addresses the audience, saying the filmmakers hope “Sound of Freedom” will be “the ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ of 21st century slavery.”

From New York Times

Some pieces in the collection include an original page of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a piece of critical flight data carried on the flight of Apollo 13 and sketches from the original creator of “Star Trek.”

From Seattle Times

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was based on her years in Cincinnati, on the banks of the river over whose ice floe Stowe’s fictional Eliza fled.

From Washington Post